19-year-old pleads guilty to orchestrating fake crypto deal robbery

A 19-year-old man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring with a group to rob another teenager by luring him into a fake crypto transaction in Singapore. The attempted robbery was reportedly planned using the messaging app Telegram and targeted a buyer of the stablecoin Tether. 

According to court statements released on Thursday, the defendant, Bai Chunjie, met one of his co-conspirators, 30-year-old Benedict Yee Hong Fai, through a mutual friend on Telegram last August. The two devised a plan to ambush a potential buyer by initially pretending to help them make a crypto trade. 

The defendant admitted that he had planned to lure the victim with a fake deal and steal the money he brought for the supposed purchase.

Accomplices brought in to confront the victim

Chujie told the court that he connected with the intended victim, a 19-year-old known only as Mr Zheng, in a crypto trading Telegram group. He then offered to sell him approximately $30,000 worth of Tether (USDT). 

He confessed that after weeks of texting, the two agreed to meet on August 29, 2024, at Hougang Green Shopping Mall around 6 PM local time.

On the day of the meeting, Bai and Yee were accompanied by two more individuals, 21-year-old Mohamad Ihan and 19-year-old Syazafirul (both names transliterated). Court documents stated that Bai and Yee misled these two accomplices about the purpose of the meeting.

The two younger men were allegedly told that the victim had “done something wrong” and needed to be “taught a lesson.” 

Neither was informed that the plan involved a robbery, but were instructed to physically confront the victim and extract money from him once the deed was done.

Robbery attempt turns violent

Before the meeting could take place, Bai, who was in the vicinity, spotted a police vehicle and was rattled. He informed the others that he no longer wished to take part in the operation and distanced himself, telling his accomplices that he was fine “observing from a nearby bus stop.”

Despite his withdrawal, the plan went ahead.

At the agreed-upon time, Mr. Zheng showed up at the meeting spot with a sling bag full of cash worth about $32,000. The court found that Syazafirul hit Zheng and threw him to the ground while Ihan held on to his legs.

Also present was Yu Hongfei, another co-conspirator who was supposedly part of the original plot, although he had not contacted Mr Zheng. Witness accounts place Yu at the scene of the crime, trying to seize the bag containing the cash and repeatedly failing to do so during the commotion.

In the scuffle, Mr Zheng slipped away from the attackers and fled the scene by jumping into a passing private-hire vehicle. He escaped with the bag and the money intact.

Court finds Bai guilty, sentencing to come later

Singapore local news outlets reported that Bai and Yu met before August 2024 through a mutual friend on Telegram. Discussions on how to “earn a living” made the two perpetrators come up with a plan to rob buyers on social media using fake crypto offers. 

Bai Chunjie pleaded guilty to one charge of attempted robbery with hurt, a serious offense under Singapore law. He is expected to be sentenced at a later date.

According to Singapore’s section 390 of the penal code, attempted robbery with violence that results in injuries earns a prison sentence of five to 20 years of imprisonment. The punishment also includes at least 12 strokes of the cane.

Singapore authorities told reporters investigations on the other accomplices, including Yee, Ihan, Syazafirul, and Yu, are still ongoing. No further charges have been slapped on the defendants yet, but the court concluded that Bai was the sole orchestrator of the setup.

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